Armored Core 4 - hands-on

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We lock on to some heavy metal and watch the shrapnel hit the fan

In both single- and multiplayer, the scale of AC4’s levels is beyond anything seen in previous Armored Core titles. Stages are densely populated, too; we've seen areas where half a dozen Armored Cores are flying around on-screen simultaneously. Given the game's setting – a post-revolution future world of war and destruction - it's fitting that there's so much happening at once. In the PS3 build, which runs natively at 1080p, there's enough going on to induce nausea. In a good way.

In both single- and multiplayer, the scale of AC4’s levels is beyond anything seen in previous Armored Core titles. Stages are densely populated, too; we've seen areas where half a dozen Armored Cores are flying around on-screen simultaneously. Given the game's setting – a post-revolution future world of war and destruction - it's fitting that there's so much happening at once. In the PS3 build, which runs natively at 1080p, there's enough going on to induce nausea. In a good way.

Although the Armored Core series is renowned more for its tactical gameplay bent than any artistic achievement, AC4 uses a unique graphical technique - half feint fuzz, half motion blur - to give the game something of an old filmic look. There aren't any other mech games that look quite like this - not even Chromehounds, which covered some of the same territory and comes from the same developer. We're more than happy with how the game is progressing, both visually and gameplay-wise, as it nears its planned Japanese launch for the PS3 format on December 14. There's a good way to go until Sega publishes Armored Core 4 in North America next spring, but we'll update you again once we've had chance to test the final Japanese code.

Although the Armored Core series is renowned more for its tactical gameplay bent than any artistic achievement, AC4 uses a unique graphical technique - half feint fuzz, half motion blur - to give the game something of an old filmic look. There aren't any other mech games that look quite like this - not even Chromehounds, which covered some of the same territory and comes from the same developer. We're more than happy with how the game is progressing, both visually and gameplay-wise, as it nears its planned Japanese launch for the PS3 format on December 14. There's a good way to go until Sega publishes Armored Core 4 in North America next spring, but we'll update you again once we've had chance to test the final Japanese code.